Treatment of wool to increase its harshness and fullness and to decrease its luster



Patented Dec. 19, 1950 TREATMENT .OF WOOL 'TO INCREASE ITS HARSHNESS'AND FULLNESS AND TO 'DE- GREASE ITS LUSTER Stuart 1 Swanson,Suflield, Conn assignor to ,Bigelow-Sanfcrd Carpet 00., 1110., Thompsonville, Corin a corporation of Massachusetts No Drawing. ApplicationDecember 13, 1947, "Serial No. 791,668

'9 Claims The present invention relates to'the treatment of wool toimprove its physical properties and more particularly to atreatment'which'will en hence the harshness and the fullness orplumpness of the wool while at thesame time decreasin its lustre.

.In the manufacture of pile fabric floor covering by the establishedoperations peculiar to this field, including the carding, spinning,dyeing, etc. of the fiber, it is necessary that the wool be harsh intextureand of a bushy .nature so thatthefiber possesses a certainfullness. Such 'bushiness, plumpness, of fullness is also desirable,inmost cases, in the pile tufts of the completed product, which alsoshould have low degree of lustre.

B. A.-type W001 is so deficient in the foregoing characteristics that ithas not been possible to process it into carpets or rugs by theestablished procedure and with the equipment presently in stalled incarpet manufacturing plants which operate successfully with theconventional carpet wools of a harsher and plumper character. Be causeof the soft, slippery, silk-like nature of the B. A.-type Wool fibers,great care and constant attention must me exercised throughoutthe'processing of the wool and the yarn and the weaving thereof. Theresulting product is in a sense a hand-made article'andcommercialproduction by the established practice is not feasible.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a, process fordelustering, harshening and plumping B. A.-type wools thereby to extendtheir use in the manufacture of pile fabric floor coverin By the presentinvention I provide a process for so modifying these B. A.-type woolsthat both the harshness and the plumpne ss or fullness of the fiber isso increased, as contrasted with the native; untreated fiber, that themodified wool they be manufactured into pile fabric ilooicovering on acommercial scale by the convent onal procedure and apparatus with onlynormal. attention during the processing. It is possible to man-;ufacture on a commercial basis pile fabric floor coverings consistinentirely of B. A.-type" wools modified by my process... The treatment ofmy inventional'so decreases the lustreof the wool. l'n accordance withthe invention the wool, either as raw stock, or partly processed, for example in the formof yarn, is modified by wetting it with a solutioncontaining aluminum sulfate, or sodium aluminum sulfate, or ammoniumaluminum sulfate. Preferably, the solution has a pH above 3.0.

Z The following is given as an example ofmy process:

A batch of raw B. *A. wool stock weighing about 900 pounds is immersedin about &,000'ga1lons of a. cold aqueous solution containing 45 poundsof aluminum sulfate. The solution is brought to the boil andmaintainedat the boiling point for about 20 minutes. Thereafter, thewool is re: moved from the bath, rinsed in running'tap water and dried.The resulting modified wool can be processed. into pile fabric floorcovering by the conventional procedures employed with the usual carpetwools with no more than normal care and attention. 1 The aluminumsulfate of the foregoing example may bereplaced partly or entirely bysodium aluminum sulfate or ammonium aluminum sulfate or mixtures ofthese compounds.

I have found that the effect of the treatment with the specifiedaluminum sulfate salt or salts is improved and is more uniform when thepH-of the treating solution is in the range 3.0 to 4.5, and accordingly.I prefer to include in the treating solution, in addition to thealuminum sulfate salt or salts, an alkaline salt in an amount sufficientto bring the pH into the range 3.0 to 4.5. Examples of such salts whichI have found to be effective for this purpose, in amounts rang, ing fromto 1%, and desirably about 4%, by weight of the wool to be treated, arethe following:

Sodium formate Ammonium hydroxide Basic reacting sodium phosphate Sodiumchloride Sodium acetate Sodium oxalate :Sodium chloride and formaldehydeSodium thiosulfate. Sodium tungstate I prefer'that the treating bath bekept at the a boil during the treatment, as in the foregoing example,and that the wool be kept in the treat in'g solution at or near the boilfor a period of 10 to 40 minutes; However, the process may also becarried out at lower temperatures by allowing the wool to remainstanding therein for a longer period of time. In this case, the aluminumsulfate salt or salts may be incorporated in the bath in the sameproportion used with the boiling bath.

I have found that the proportion of modifying agent present in thetreating liquid may be varied over a substantial range depending uponthe degree of modification to be imparted to the wool and upon thetemperature and the duration of the treatment. Amounts of the modifyingcompounds ranging from about 2% to 8%, by weight of the wool to betreated, preferably about have been found advantageous. U

The treatment of the present invention is mos useful when applied to theB."A.-type wools ecause, in this case it serves to convert a Wool whichcan be used only in minor proportions, if at all, for the manufacture ofpile fabric floor coverings, into a wool which can be used substantiallyin the same wa as the conventional carpet wools. However, my treatmentis also useful with these conventional carpet wools to decrease theirlustre and to enhance their qualities of harshness, and of plumpness andfullness which render them amenable to processing into pile fabric floorcoverings by the established procedures and equipment. The improvementin these properties, however, is not as great in the case of theconventional carpet wools as it is with the B. A.-type wools. Thetreatment is also useful with mixtures of wools of different types.

, Wooltreated by my process may be spun into yarn which may then bewoven as the pile of pile fabric floor coverings, notwithstanding thefact that the original stock was largely or entirely a B; A.-type woolwhich inherently is incapable of being processed on the conventionalcarpet manufacturing apparatus. Such pile has a coarse harsh texture, abushiness or fullness, and a lack of lustre far different from thetexture, fullness and lustre of untreated B. A.-type wools andcomparable with the texture, fullness and lack of lustre of the harsherconventional carpet wools.

Raw B. A.-type wool stock modified by my process may be mixed withconventional carpet wools in all proportions to give a wool mixturesuitable for use in forming the pile of pile fabric floor coverings.

By the term B. A.-type wool as used herein, I mean wool having thecharacteristics of B. A. wool as regards its soft, slippery nature, itslustre and its lack of harshness and fullness as contrasted with theconventional carpet wools. I use the term B. A. wool in its ordinarymeaning in the trade, i. e., wool from the Lincoln-type sheep as grownin South America. The B. A.- type wools available today consistprimarily of B. A. wool, and wool from the Lincoln-type sheep as grownin New Zealand.

Athough the specific examples of my process given above by way ofillustration and not of limitation relate to precedures in which thewool is immersed in a bath of the treating liquid, it is not, intendedthereby to exclude other ways of Wetting the wool with the treatingsolution, such as by sprinkling, spraying, etc.

Iclaim:

: 1. The process for imparting to B. A.-type wool the-properties ofharshness, plumpness, and fullness requisite for conversion of the woolby standard procedures into pile fabric floor covering and fordecreasing its lustre which comprises wetting the wool with an aqueoussolution having a pH value between 3.0 and 4.5 and consistingessentially of 2% to 8% by weight of the wool of an aluminum sulfatesalt selected from the class consisting of aluminum sulfate, sodiumaluminum sulfate and ammonium aluminum sulfate.

2. The process as in claim 1 in which the wool is immersed in thesolution for 10 to 40 minutes at the boil.

3. The process of claim 2 in which lower than boiling temperatures andlonger periods of time are used.

4. The process for imparting to B. A.-type wool the properties ofharshness, plumpness, and fullness requisite for conversion of the woolby standard procedures into pile fabric floor covering and fordecreasing its lustre which comprises immersing the wool for 10 to 40minutes in a boiling aqueous solution having a pH value between 3.0 and4.5 and consisting essentially of 2% to 8% by weight of'the wool ofaluminum sulfate.

5; The process of claim 4 in which lower than boiling temperatures andlonger periods of time are used.

. 6. The process for imparting to B. A.-type wool the properties ofharshness, plumpness, and fullness requisite for conversion of the woolby standard procedures into pile fabric floor covering and fordecreasing its lustre which comprises immersing the wool for 10 to 40minutes in a boiling aqueous solution having a pH value between 3.0 and4.5 and consisting essentially of 2% to 8% by weight of the wool ofsodium aluminum sulfate.

7. The process of claim 6 in which lower than boiling temperatures andlonger periods of tim are used.

8. The process for imparting to B. A.type wool the properties ofharshness, plumpness, and fullness" requisite for conversion of the woolby standard procedures into pile fabric floor covering and fordecreasing its lustre which comprises immersing the wool for 10 to 40minutes in a boiling aqueous solution having a pH value between 3.0 and4.5 and consisting essentially of 2% to8% by weight of the wool ofammonium aluminum sulfate.

9,. The process of claim 8 in which lower than boiling temperatures andlonger periods of time are used.

E i STUART E. SWANSON.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS record in the Number OTHER REFERENCES Dale:Mordanting W001 with Aluminum Salts,- Iowa State College J. Sci., 1942,vol. 17-, pages 49-50. Abstracted in J. Textile Inst., Oc tober 1943,one page.

1. THE PROCESS FOR IMPARTING TO B. A-TYPE WOOL THE PROPERTIES OFHARSHNESS, PLUMPNESS, AND FULLNESS REQUISITE FOR CONVERSION OF THE WOOLBY STANDARD PROCEDURES INTO PILE FABRIC FLOOR COVERING AND FORDECREASING ITS LUSTRE WHICH COMPRISES WETTING THE WOOL WITH AN AQUEOUSSOLUTION HAVING A PH VALUE BETWEEN 3.0 AND 4.5 AND CONSISTINGESSENTIALLY OF 2% TO 8% BY WEIGHT OF THE WOOL OF AN ALUMINUM SULFATESALT SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF ALUMINUM SULFATE, SODIUMALUMINUM SULFATE AND AMMONIUM ALUMINUM SULFATE.